Epress.am News from Armenia
Yerevan City Hall is preparing to incorporate a new strategy in Yerevan’s public transportation in which service will improve and the number of minibuses (known as marshrutkas) and trolley buses will be reduced, said Association of Consumers of Armenia Chair Armen Poghosyan, while meeting with journalists today.
“We are very concerned about this issue since the group of experts that are working on the project cannot understand that electric transport [the metro, trolley buses] is the best means of transportation, it contains 0% exhaust [fumes],” he said.
Poghosyan added that this issue has many aspects — security, environmental, social — but most important is dignity.
“The Armenian man of the 21st [century] does not deserve to travel in that state in which we ride minibuses, in a state of bent backs,” he said, referring to passengers who, forced to stand in minibuses when all the seats are taken, cannot stand up with their backs straight.
According to a survey carried out by the Consumers’ Association of Armenia, 76.5% of residents prefer the number of minibuses be reduced and commuters travel by transportation based on electricity instead.